JEDDAH: Emirati-Yemeni singer Balqees Fathi and Arab Idol Mohammed Assaf are among the top speakers at the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity, which takes place from March 5–7.
Festival speakers will explore the language of creativity through the lens of music, movies and dance. The sessions will focus on entertainment’s evolution and the future of production.
Abe Naga, head of digital, and Samar Akrouk, group director of production, MBC Group, will sit down with Assaf to discuss how the entertainment industry can work with brands to produce content that strikes a human chord. The Arab Idol show launched Assaf’s hugely successful career which has since been followed worldwide and resulted in his status as a modern Palestinian hero.
Award-winning Fathi, meanwhile, is one of the Arab world’s biggest names in music and a highly successful social media influencer.
Since becoming a media icon almost 10 years ago she has leveraged her online presence of over 10 million followers to highlight important humanitarian causes. Discussing her creative process with Odience Media at Dubai Lynx, Fathi will explore the collaboration economy and how it is changing the way artists interact with followers.
“The entertainment industry is increasingly evolving and it’s time for us celebrities and influencers to lead that change. Social media has given us the opportunity to connect directly with our fans, talk and listen to them and be trusted by them. I have great pride in partnering with prestigious brands to create great content that offers something interesting, engaging and useful to my fans. Dubai Lynx is a wonderful opportunity to be inspired and I’m delighted to be onstage with Odience Media who are driving change,” she said.
Raha Moharrak, youngest Saudi female to climb Mt. Everest, will also speak at the event.
Dubai Lynx is the region’s top event for the creative communications industry to learn and network. The 2017 festival takes place at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.
Balqees, Assaf to take stage at Dubai Lynx
Balqees, Assaf to take stage at Dubai Lynx
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
